A DOG'S LIFE●Graeme Hall
Don’t fret about leaving
your best friend at home
O
nly the lonely know
the way I feel tonight,”
sang Roy Orbison,
60 years before Covid
rocked the world,
“ ... there goes my
baby, there goes
my heart.” Right
now, it seems every
other dog is howling
the same tune
because, with the easing of
Covid restrictions, owners
are heading back to the
workplace in droves.We are increasingly being
told in newspaper headlines
and on social media to watch
out for signs of separation
anxiety in dogs left home alone
for the first time in two years,
or for the first time ever if
they were a lockdown puppy.
Separation anxiety is a
collective term for a range
of distressed behaviours —
barking, whining, toilet
accidents, chewing and pawing
at escape routes, for example
— triggered when a personupon whom the dog has
become dependent leaves the
house, or even a room. It can
certainly be a problem, and if it
affects you and your pet you’ll
know how upsetting it is, but
separation anxiety has always
existed. We are just more aware
of it post-lockdown.
The rise in the use of webcams
has increased our awareness too.
Ten years ago, you knew you had
a problem if you came home to
half the kitchen door missing
or a dog-sized hole in a stud44 • The Sunday Times Magazine